Industrial zones

OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Dec. 15: The government plans to set up 10 National Manufacturing and Investment Zones along the Delhi-Mumbai railway corridor to boost growth in the manufacturing sector.

“We have notified 10 National Manufacturing and Investment Zones, which are mega integrated townships with world class infrastructure. The biggest one is of 900 square kilometres in Dholera, Gujarat,” Anand Sharma, minister of commerce and industry and textiles, told newspersons here today.

The 10 zones will come up in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

Sharma said the government wanted to increase the share of manufacturing in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 25 per cent by 2020 from 16 per cent.

He said the manufacturing sector created more jobs per rupee of investment, adding that the National Manufacturing Policy announced by the government hoped to create about 100 million jobs over the next eight years.

Sharma urged industry captains to tap their foreign counterparts for investment in India.